Forever Defying the Ordinary
by AlwaysPadfoot
Summary: I haven't had the best life so far and I don't live in the safest place either. I'm damn lucky that I've got through it. I've had to grow up quickly without really having a childhood. Hogwarts is my second chance. There's just the small issue of getting in, people here rarely do and when; if, I get there there's a small issue of being a Black. MainCharacterOC-HP-HG-BZ
1. Caylarium Institution

**Disclaimer: Not mine – it's JK's. Sad times.**

**After re-reading Ami James: The First Year, I know it sucked. I was angry at myself for writing things in like Mobile Phones and Hermione and Neville sitting with Harry and Ron on the train. That just wouldn't happen unless there's a reason for it.**

I figured that I ended up as the writer that I hated or at least disliked.

*Sigh* so without further ado here is the über tweaked version. It's so tweaked that you won't even recognise it. I don't even want you to think it's the same story.

**Last thing. I am a beta so check out my profile :)**

-  
**  
****Chapter 1 - Caylarium Institution  
**  
Oh. My. Fucking. God. I am going to kill her.

Not only was I mad but she'd gone too far, _too far_ this time. I sprinted across the fourth floor corridor, my hair still wet from the shower I'd just had but I couldn't care less. Joanna Selby was going to pay for stealing my stuff, the bloody kleptomaniac. Okay, so she _supposedly_ couldn't help it but that doesn't give her the right to walk into my room while I'm in the bathroom and take stuff.

I slammed into Blaise's room, blatantly ignoring the fact that he was just chilling, reading Quidditch Magazine, in green silk boxers. I risked a moment of raising an eyebrow before throwing myself on the sofa opposite his bed.

"Erm Mira, I'm in my boxers" he said calmly, casually flicking the page over like I hadn't even entered the room.

"You're point is?" I retorted, plucking a hair off the collar of my shirt and chucking it on the floor. He sighed, dropping the magazine on his bedside table before pulling on a Tutshill Tornados t-shirt that had been draped over the back of his chair.

"Right, you've got face on what's wrong?" Blaise asked. I scowled at him, rubbing my socks against the rug beneath my feet.

"Joanna stole my necklace, the little..." I began. Blaise's eyes instantly snapped up to mine and before I could switch into full on rant mode he spoke.

"How are we getting it back?!" He knew how important the necklace was to me and I knew he would help me get it back no questions asked. The necklace itself was silver and at the end hung a paw print charm. I'd had it for my whole life and even though I knew it reminded me of me of the fact that my Dad was in Azkaban for life and I had no clue who my mum had been, I'd formed an attachment to necklace and it kept me hopeful. Hopeful of what I do not know, I never ever wanted to meet my father. He could stay in Azkaban and live his life sentence. I certainly don't care. With my mother, I was almost 100% sure that my mum was no longer part of this world.

Just a feeling.

"Right now it's in her room. I say we sacrifice a smaller kid get them to get Selby downstairs" I began, a plan forming and seeping across my mind like some sort of disease "Then we find my necklace, mess with her head a little, then leave." I grinned. Blaise smirked and grabbed a pair of trousers pulling them on before hurrying over to the door.

"Callum" he called, "Oi over here".

Ah Callum Brown, my favourite little seven year old. He had Capgras' Syndrome. For some reason about six months ago he got it in his head that his sister was an imposter and that his real sister had been taken away from him so naturally he tried to kill her.

Of course, that coupled with a hyperactivity disorder landed him a one way ticket here. He'd had no real assessment; not really, they were clearly not interested in helping him whatsoever. That didn't happen here.

Help didn't happen here.

We soon figured out that Callum's sister had received her Hogwarts letter on her birthday and grown apart from her hyperactive brother. She'd changed so Callum's mind had gone mad and worse came to worst and he'd started to plot against her. It was sad.

"Hi Blaise! Hi Mira!" Callum appeared in the doorway, waving animatedly over to me.

"Hey Cal!" I smiled, "We need your help..."

We spent the next ten minutes going over the plan. Cal would be going into Joanna's room to distract her - apparently he already had something in mind. Blaise didn't ask why so I think it was safe to assume that it would be much more exciting to wait and see what happened. After Callum had done the fun bit, Blaise and I would go and have our fun, of course, we'd hunt the necklace down first. The only problem was making sure that we moved fast or if Joanna still had my necklace on her person. If she still had it then things could get more violent than I wanted.

Not that that would be an abnormal thing here. I guess this goes without saying but Caylarium Institution was for mental kids: orphans or kids with rich pureblood families who were afraid or ashamed of their child's problems. From the outside and inside, it looked quite swish and when you arrived here Ella-Louise made it sound fantastic and everything a mental home should. We knew what it was really like. People get worse here, not better. You got hurt or drugged or punished if you didn't keep your head down.

Ten minutes later Blaise and I were crouched around the corner next to Joanna's room waiting for Callum to appear to create his distraction. Sure enough, the seven-year-old appeared with something small and dark purple in his hand.

"Is that?" Blaise began.

"Uh-huh, Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder" I grinned at him.

"Where the hell did he get that?" he whispered.

"Probably the same way I get stuff" I looked to him, "Milo" we chorused. We finally directed our attention back to Callum who had pushed Joanna's door open. A confused yet sharp voice told him to go away but he chucked the powder down. There was a strangled cry and a figure hurtled out from the room, sprinting in the direction of Callum's quickly retreating form. Blaise and I hurried form our hiding place and into the darkness that Callum had left. I grabbed Blaise's hand and just pressed forward through the darkness. Usually it'd be near impossible to navigate through Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder but because it was such a small piece and was already starting to fade it wasn't particularly hard. As it cleared I instantly spotted my necklace on her bedside table and I quickly reached out to grab it.

"Wait" Blaise stopped me picking it up, "What if she's warded it or something?" he reminded me. I looked back to the necklace. It's not warded; she's simply not that clever. I pulled my arm from Blaise's grasp and picked up the necklace. He rolled his eyes, muttering something I vaguely recognised to be some sort of dig at my outright stupidness. I wouldn't call it that though – more like daring.

I don't call him on it anyway, never do. I know he doesn't mean it.

We set to work on turning Joanna's into chaos rather than the organised chaos she currently had left her room in. Both Blaise and I knew the smallest things would piss her off; she was that observant that it would only take a matter of about ten to twenty seconds for her to click on and start screaming blue murder.

All of a sudden there was a crash downstairs and silently I hoped that Callum was alright. The kid was really fast but Joanna was going to be so mad. I suddenly wondered whether it was morally okay to use willing kids in our ploys and I looked warily over to Blaise, who grimaced at me. Clearly he was thinking the same thing so we finished up pretty quick and left the room in silence. My ears strained for any shouting, screaming or crashing from downstairs but no noise came. Blaise led me to my door which stupidly I've left open. Again. You'd think I'd be more careful but usually the kids here were more trustworthy. A surprise, I know, from a house full of kids who all deal with different issues. It was the adults – not including Milo and Kiera – that you had to look out for. Particularly Jake and Ella-Louise. I shuddered momentarily as Blaise and I ducked inside my room just in time for Joanna who was stomping back down the corridor, not to spot us.

Once the door slammed, Blaise and I peered out into the corridor. We waited for a long moment.

"Three, two, one" he breathed.

A scream ripped through the building despite its huge size, as Joanna Selby finally discovered that her room had been viciously upturned by us. If it wasn't already obvious the girl had issues with people touching the stuff she claimed as hers, especially when it rightly belonged to someone else. I guess she was one of the dangers of living in a place like this. Even though everyone here knew that she had issue's many people came out from their rooms to see whatever was about to unfold, unfold. I'd like to say nosy buggers but I knew I would have done the same. We almost fell out into the corridor from my room; the noise she was making was just too funny.

Blaise and I were clutching our sides in laughter and I could barely breathe as the scream quickly turned to despair and then swiftly into a strangled cry as she decided who she could blame for the attack and reclaiming of their items. She hurtled out into the corridor, her eyes crazy as they rested on me. It didn't matter though because now I really thought hard about it I knew she'd react like this. Subconsciously I wonder where Callum was again.

I was barely concentrating due to the hilarity of the situation therefore when Joanna had spotted me; she hurtled towards me knocking me off my feet and, of course, things turned nasty. It's a little strange really, Joanna was much older than me, by five years actually, but she was short. She'd been here longer than me but I was still happy to fight with a 16 year old. Clearly she thought the same but with an eleven year old otherwise we wouldn't be in this situation. Joanna Selby, in case I haven't already mentioned - ignoring the kleptomania and touches of OCD - had a serious anger issue as you can see. She clearly knows the workings of what you can do here but Blaise and I know the system better now. If she wanted to steal stuff, particularly stuff that's important to me, then I was totally going screw with her head by fucking up her room until she went round the twist.

Blaise jumped a few feet backwards knowing that to get involved would be dangerous plus it was kind of a moral thing not to 'round here. You fought your own battles and if you got hurt, you got hurt; you sucked it up and dealt with it.

Joanna let out a scream of triumph - to be totally honest it sounded more like a war cry - as my back collided with the carpeted floor. I'd usually be happy that we weren't downstairs where the carpet was non-existent but bloody hell would I have carpet burn later. I couldn't give her chance to pin me to the floor; that would be stupid. I lashed out, catching her jaw and leaving her dazed so I could push Joanna off of me and scramble to my feet. Trying to ignore the little voice that told me to run as I don't run, I never run, I watched Joanna carefully.

"You took my shit Black! Give it back" she screamed at me. _Typical_, she's lost the plot.

"No Joanna, this - " I spoke as patronisingly as possible, grabbing the necklace that was now safely back around my neck, "This is mine, not yours!" my eyes shifted momentarily to Blaise before I threw myself to the floor as a spell shot over my head. Now it's time to run, I may be stubborn but I'm not suicidal.

You don't take on a crazy kid with a wand particularly without a wand of your own.

I quickly got to my feet and sprinted down the corridor away from Joanna. I passed Callum who grinned widely at me knowing that not even he could distract Joanna now. Another spell shot over my head before I rounded the corner, flattening myself into the alcove next to the stairs where she wouldn't see me and then I waited. Joanna shot round the corner carelessly, wand out and looking incredibly menacing – well, as menacing as a 4ft 11" girl could. I stuck my leg out and her wand clattered to the floor before I heard a series of loud bangs where I assumed she hit pretty much every stair.

That was handy.

I shot out from hiding fast, snatching up her wand and sliding down the banister so that I was the one that stayed in control of the situation. Pointing the wand at her, I waited for her to make her move. After a few moments of silence, she sat up, her eyes narrowed at the wand in my hand pointed directly at her.

"That's mine!" she hissed, blood dripping down from her hairline as she stood up. Now she looked even crazier than she probably was and THAT is saying something.

"Now how does it feel!" I spat, "How does it feel to have something stolen from you Selby?!" I grabbed her shirt with my other hand jabbing her wand into her neck, holding her in such a place that would see her topple down the next set of stairs if I let go. Joanna's hands flew up to mine, her eyes almost pleading as she gripped onto the hand holding her shirt, nails digging into my arm with me balancing her precariously on the top step. I wouldn't really push her, of course, I wasn't so malicious that I would let her fall down a second set of stairs, would I?

Life and death situations. Just another _normal_ day at Caylarium Institution.

"MIRA BLACK"

Well, I wondered when they would turn up. Fights were horrendously common here but I was holding another _inmate_ over the edge of a staircase so it was only a matter of minutes before the staff here came to quell the situation. And, of course, I would get the blame because Miss I'm-Pretending-To-Be-Oh-So-Innocent Selby was the one being held over the staircase and the one bleeding.

In jest - and because it was fun - I pushed her slighter further and she screamed out falsely before leaning further towards me to whisper to me so no one else would hear.

"I dare you Black"

That's ridiculous. I had clicked on she was a little attention seeking twit but she was purposely being manipulative too just to get me in trouble.

"BLACK! STOP RIGHT THERE"

Oh lookie here, it's the new guy. I don't actually know his name so I'd been referring to him as the new guy for about two weeks now. To be fair I didn't feel any need to find out his name, new guys came and went like broom models. They just didn't realise how bad we are, how bad this place is. It's made out to be so bloody brilliant and fantastic. That's only because pureblood parents pay horrendous amounts of money into this place. Only really the kids that lived here and the staff knew that every kid's problems just got worse. This place wasn't safe even on a good day.

The New Guy loitered at the bottom of the stairs, I could feel a plethora of people watching me at this point and I shifted uncomfortably. Because I shifted, Mr New Guy took this as me getting ready to push Selby.

A jet of blue light hit me I froze as I felt the effects of being doped cascade down my back.

_Idiot_. Now we're both going to fall, she'll pull me down. My grip loosened and my knees trembled.

Next thing I knew I was at the bottom of the stairs in a pile. Selby had fallen unconscious, good thing to because I had been craving to kick her into the exact state she was in now. Slowly I raised my fingers to my eyebrow which was sticky with blood.

"Are you joking?" I hissed, "Are you joking?" I repeated, my head going fuzzy from the sedative he'd shot at me, "You bloody idiot!" I can't believe he did that, the absolute moron. Leaving Selby lying at the bottom on the stairs the New Guy fisted my shirt in one of his hands and pulled me away.

I'd learnt not to resist in these situations. It was stupid and I'd been in them too many times to count. The spell inside of me was spreading much further, my limbs no longer responding so I was barely taking a step before stumbling and being dragged a few metres until I managed to get up again.

It was a vicious circle.

Today was a bad day for wearing shorts, carpet burns were nasty. I physically couldn't lift my body anymore and I couldn't care less how he got me downstairs my mind was more bothered about how I could measure the amount of what felt like nargles inside my brain right now. All I knew is I would have bruises later.

I sighed knowing that this spell would have effects on me that it shouldn't.

Cue insanity in three, two, one.

-

_**25th November 1985 - The Logan's House  
**__  
"London's burning, London's burning. Fetch the engines, fetch the engines. Fire fire, fire fire! Pour no water, pour no water" I sing, standing on my tippy toes to reach the wand on the table._

No one's home, they always leave me at home and Mrs Batty Natty never fed me before they left. I'm hungry, I've not eaten since yesterday. Mr Matthew says they keep me for the money. I don't know what that means. He says it's so he and Mrs Natty can have nice things. Mr Matthew's nasty. Mr Matthew hurts me.

Mr Matthew and Mrs Natty are going lose their nice things. I'm going to put fire on their stuff so they hurt inside like me. I hurt all the time. Mr Matthew burnt me so I'm going to burn his nice things.

The wand falls to the floor with a crash and I pick it up with a smile.

"London's burning, London's burning. Fetch the engines, fetch the engines. Fire fire, fire fire! Pour no water, pour no water" I sing again going into the room where I wasn't allowed to go, "House is burning, Housing is burning" I point the wand at the comfy seat.

"Make the house burn, I want Mr Matthew and Mrs Natty to hurt like me" I whisper, there was no hesitation between my final word and the sofa setting on fire.

Now I've got to leave or I'm going to get hurt.

"House is burning, pour no water, stop me hurting, house is burning"  


I remember that. The Ministry found me sat in the front garden watching the fire engulf the house. My face had been pink with the heat and the wand was still gripped in my hand but I was memorised by the flames. I'd just sat there, flames dancing bare metres away but I remained captivated – the occasion hum of a nursery rhyme passed my lips.

Okay, that makes me sound crazy. I'm not crazy. I didn't know any better as a just-turned six year old who could only remember being mistreated by Matthew and Natalie Logan. I wasn't going to lie though; I did have an unhealthy obsession with fire now.

I felt the spell stir, here we go again.

-

_**2nd February 1986 - Caylarium Institution  
**__  
That creepy woman is scaring Tom. Tom sits there every day. He waits for his family to come back but she's trying to get him to move._

"Thomas, you will move this instant!" she tells him. Tom's moving from side to side trying to see past Ella-Louise but she's standing in his way to make him angry at her. I thought she might leave him alone. Thomas is getting upset still not moving and suddenly she hits him. That is horrible.

"Stop!" I shout at Ella-Louise getting myself in between her and Thomas. People are starting to watch what was going on now.

"Mira, run along" she says, giving me a warning look.

"No! You hit him! Leave him alone!" I snap at her, "He's not doing anything wrong!" I look around, there are loads of them gathering in nearby doorways and a boy, whose name is Alan, gives me a nod.

"Mira Black, you will move this instant" she sneers and I smile up at her.

"I will not" I say firmly before I push her as hard as any 6 year old can and she stumbles back but doesn't fall. She watches me for a moment as I scowl at her and pulls out an orb thingy which she shakes hard. There's an audible gasp from someone and I don't understand what's going on but it goes almost deathly silent.

"How dare you do that?" Ella-Louise tells me. Her voice is calm and that's confuses me, why is everyone so quiet?

"How dare you hit Thomas!?" I shout at her. The main door opens and a man who I've only seen once before arrives at the door. He glares at a nearby kid and she takes several steps away from him.

"One last time Mira, you will move away from him" she demands, I take a small step backwards.

"I will NOT! You won't hurt him!" I scream. Ella-Louise's eyes narrow and she calls the man, Jake, forward. He looks like bit a gorilla, huge and ugly, with crazy hair. Jake grabs my arm and I yelp, grabbing hold of the banister trying to stop him.

"Come on Mira, let's go, it's time to give you your medicine" Ella-Louise says, her voice is dangerous to me so I hold onto the banister tighter.

"No! I'm not ill!" I shout, "I don't want anything" I try to kick Jake away but Ella-Louise prises my fingers from the banisters and my head hits a stair. I cry out but still squirm under both their grips despite me being half the size of both of them. Kids scatter in all directions as the two staff half carry me away as I try to twist away.

"You are ill Mira Black, you will have your medicine" she tells me. They take me downstairs and I've got a bad feeling that downstairs is bad.

"Am not! Am not! I don't want it, I DON'T WANT IT" I scream. Jake pins me down firmly on a table and suddenly I'm more terrified than before. I try and move but I can barely lift any part of my body because of Jake. I listen for a moment as Ella-Louise moves around and as I see her move back in front of me I panic.

"This won't hurt" she says.

I start wriggling madly, "Let go. Let go. Let go" I repeat over and over again. I thought I was away from the nasty people.

Mr Matthew would never touch me again after what I did, why were these people hurting me?

"I don't want anything. I'm not ill" I shout. Jake pushes me down harder against the table, grabbing hold of my arm.

"Stay still" he hisses.

"NO, I DON'T WANT IT!" I scream. I try so hard to fight but I lose because Ella-Louise stabs something into my arm. Jake let go of me and both of them move away. I throw myself off the table but my body stops working properly and I collapse in a heap. I want to call for help from the nasty people but I know no one will help.

I'm almost scared but being brave is what helps me stop hurting. Being brave keeps me happy.

-

That was the day that I realised that Caylarium was not somewhere I wanted to be. The day I was first doped and locked in solitary for three days without any food. That was not something you did to a 16 year old let alone a six year old.

I was somewhat lucky that Blaise and I had become friends before that incident because if I had to deal what this drug/spell does to me every time on my own, I really think I would have gone crazy.

Quite possibly one of the worse things that ever happened here was when I was nine. Something I never wanted to think about and yet every time I was put here into solitary I was forced to witness the events once more. It was this event that made me who I am, this event that showed me what really goes on behind closed doors and out there. Real life.

Fuck.

-

_**24th August 1989 - Caylarium Institution  
**__  
Blaise is probably still in a lesson. I had Fabian as a teacher today and he'd been lucky to have Milo - they split us up occasionally particularly if Ella-Louise was the one sending us to class. I kept out of Fabian's way because I just had a bad feeling and every time I had a bad feeling something bad happened. The last thing I need to do is to get in trouble right now._

Someone further down the corridor someone shouts but I know better than to go and investigate besides right now I have to hunt Blaise down. I wander upstairs although as it gets quieter and quieter I pick up the pace because it's never this quiet at Caylarium. The fourth floor is abandoned, that's weird, normally around now people would have their doors opens and all sorts of noise and voices would be heard.

I notice that the attic door is open, no one's allowed up there, well, so we assume. Not once in almost four years here had I ever seen that door open. I walk past but I only get say a few feet past when I hear a sob.

I freeze, most here would ignore a sob but it peaks my curiosity. Of course coupled with having a bad feeling I guess someone might be in trouble. I take two steps back and peer through the open door, slowly I push it open a little. It creaks loudly and I flinch at the sound. A moment of silence follows before there's another crash and a muffled scream. My heart stops when I hear the sound of flesh meeting flesh. I take a step backwards down the stairs looking down at the wooden staircase beneath me.

_Hell. There's blood on the floor. _

_I sense someone watching me and my head snaps up to see Giles Pendal stood at the top of the stairs. He's got a glint in his eye I have never seen before. There is a moment where we stare at each other and suddenly I'm so afraid because never in my life have I seen anyone look like that. I whip around and make a dash back down the stairs. As I run, for a millisecond, I wonder why I'm running. Giles isn't scary. Never has been. I almost consider stopping but I barely take two steps from the door when he grabs my hair and yanks me backwards. With a yelp, I stumble back barely staying on my feet and Giles drags me back up the stairs, kicking the attic door shut as he goes. I scream out, he tries to cover my mouth but I bite down on his hand. He howls in pain and throws me down onto the attic floor. Accidently breathing in a gulp of dusty air, I cough and splutter for what seems like an eternity before I shakily lift my shoulders from the ground._

_Oh god._

_Ami James, Giles' best friend lies just a few feet away, barely recognisable through the damage, through the torture he has inflicted on her and I want to throw up. Her body shakes and it's almost like she's been put on mute because she's silently sobbing like she's terrified that if she makes any noise Giles will get worse. I barely manage to get up before Giles shoves me backwards into the wall of the attic._

_It suddenly hits me. They had their Hogwarts assessments today. _

"_They rejected you didn't they?" I manage to hiss, no one knew what Giles issue was, why he was here, but I guess I may find out. His nostrils flare and his eyes narrow. I have to resist the temptation to smirk. I take a moment to gaze around the dusty attic while he contemplates his response. It's much bigger than I expect yet full of old junk and unused furniture – not the place I want to die._

"_I'm not crazy I deserve a place at Hogwarts! She doesn't!" he growls, his arms either side of me cornering me in. His dark eyes are level with mine, they dare me to respond in the manner I started with. I accept his challenge – half because I don't think he will hurt me, half because my stupidity gets the better of me in situations that it shouldn't._

"_Uh-huh" I roll my eyes, "Because she's clearly the one that's crazy" I spit, nodding my head furiously in the direction of Ami. The poor girl was about to be whisked away by some extended family too because, let's be fair, out of all of us she was the most sane. Look at her now, unrecognisable, her feet and arms bound together and gagged in a dusty attic. When Giles turns his head for the split second I slam a small fist into his face. It had no effect but I attempt to push past him causing as many problems as possible. There's a brief moment where I believe he will let me go but it barely lasts two seconds before he flings me across the floor._

_I blink back the prickle behind my eyes and they widen in shock as I see Giles pointing a wand straight at me. Where the hell has that come from?! He whispers a harsh spell and ropes appear from nowhere wrapping tightly around my wrists and ankles._

"_Giles" I shout, trying to get hold of the boy whom I used to know, "GILES! Let me go" I continue, I've never been so scared in my life and I end up doing something I wouldn't have done three years ago. It's the bravest thing I've ever done. _

_I start screaming._

_To get someone's attention mainly but there was one other thing I want. I want Ami not to get hurt again and if screaming was the way to do that then I guess I would keep screaming. After all, surely someone will hear. Giles quick approaches me, winding me with a sharp kick to the stomach before he kneels at my side and gags me with little difficulty but that was only because of the fact I could hardly breathe. I pull my knees up breathing deeply though my nose, which consequently itches like hell._

_Giles sits back for a moment, wand twirling between his fingers as he debates what to do next and to my absolute horror he moves to Ami once more. I growl and start moving my legs back and forth wildly on the floor, in hopes that I could kick something over. I succeed in knocking a vase to the ground where it smashes just as Giles is mid spell, he turns to me and the diffindo jinx slices across my collar bone. Gasping out in pain, I roll to the side, my back to him as I bite back a sob. _

"_Diffindo!" Giles shouts, the spell cuts across my lower back but as he shouts the spell a third time, two things happen: A, the spell never hits me and B, I know Blaise is here. I flex my wrists in their ties and dare to peep across my shoulder. I turn just in time to see that the spell has hit Blaise. Everything moves so fast, Blaise barely grunts at the spells affect and he absolutely flips out, something I've never seen before. He knocks the wand away from Giles and punches him as hard as he can. _

_I want to cry. I shout out Blaise's name but he continues to knock Giles to the floor and suddenly he's shouting, Giles is shouting. I'm trying not to get hysterical. There's more shouting, feet thunder up the attic stairs, someone screams my name and every occupant of the attic remains caught still in whatever there are doing. Ami's name is shouted, then Blaise's. Giles. Mine. Ami's. Then without warning it stops, faster than you can blink._

_It's over._

My body jerked upwards into a sitting position and I shake involuntarily, I slammed my hand into the padded wall next to me. That whole memory escalated due to my intervention, Blaise got hurt because of me and I would never forget that. If I hadn't been so stupid Blaise wouldn't have ended up in St Mungo's for three days. Because of the proximity of Giles to Blaise when he cast the spell, it had done much more damage to Blaise than it had for me.

Though it wasn't serious, Blaise was left with an ugly red scar across his chest whilst I simply have to deal with two thin, yet noticeable, white scars.

I didn't really mean to get him involved, subconsciously I'd called out to him and he'd simply stood up in the middle of his lesson and sprinted upstairs. They had to pull him off Giles, it was a complete shock for most people, seeing him so angry. It was a side no one wanted to see.

Ami was taken to St Mungo's, we got told she's unlikely to recover ever again and we assumed she was still there. It was an event that most remembered. Many prefer to ignore it but it continues to haunt me. Giles, on the other hand, was moved to a more secure, more mental home and we learn from Kiera barely six months later that he committed suicide in his room.

That particular event proved Caylarium was completely and utterly crazy. I grew up fast here, everyone did, you had to be somewhat mature to deal with what goes on. Otherwise you really will go crazy.

It's dark in here - solitary that is. It must have been what, three days? Surely they must be thinking that they should let me out. I leant back and scowled into the darkness as my stomach rumbled painfully. I was almost glad that my mind was kept occupied by the flashbacks sometimes because if there was one thing I hated more than anything in the world it was the dark. I pulled my knees up to my chest, running my fingers through my hair in irritation and leaning my forehead forward. The flashbacks are done for now. Thank god.

I hate them so much.

I heard noises outside the door and I've never been so happy to see Ella-Louise open the door. But then something happened, I tried to stand up and suddenly I slipped back into a flashback.


	2. Judgement Day

**Disclaimer: If only I could have had that idea on the train all those years ago… Alas only Mira and Caylarium and all the OC's are mine. Oh except Ness…**

**Ness, VANESSA RIVERS, is the creation of Cookies-And-Ink, she is completing a spin off side project of Ness aptly named Snapshots in Multicolour [Rated T]. Check it out. :)**

**Chapter Three was completed on holiday so that will be up soon :)**

**Last thing. I am a beta so check out my profile :) **

**Much love to my Beta Cookies-And-Ink **

**Chapter Two – Judgement Day  
**  
_**Date and Place: Unknown  
**__  
I can't see anything. My heart is racing, I can feel it pulsing against my skin and if I'd ever had a bad feeling before this must be the worst right now. I shift my shoulders and the surface below me is hard and cold._

_There's something rubbing my wrists, like rope almost. I twist them slightly but it only hurts more. What makes it even worse is the fact that it's dark again and this fear stems from when I was much younger. The fact that Matthew Logan would lock me in the dark every night was part of it but it came before that I'm sure. I remember something._

_I feel a breeze near my feet and I'm suddenly aware that I have no shoes or socks. I wiggle my toes, who would take my shoes? This isn't right. This isn't right._

_Why the fuck can't I see anything!?_

_I can smell fire, hear it crackle and can feel the heat radiating around the room. It didn't feel right. It was a petrol fire - at least that's how it smelt anyway._

_I lift my shoulder blades up once more, straining my arms as I take a deep breath in. Then my ears prick as there's a creak of an old heavy door and I hear footsteps. My eyebrows knit together in confusion and automatically my body tenses up. Hell, who is it? Who the fuck is it?!_

_I squirm, panic pulses through me and my breathing quickens. My heart stops as a harsh chuckle reaches my ears._

_"You'll never get away with it" I say, though my voice trembles slightly. The dark chuckle echoes once more round the room._

_"No baby I expect not..." the voice whispers, it is male, "But by the time they find us it'll be over"_

When I woke up, my whole body lurched forward, shaking. Blaise materialised next to me wrapping his arms around me. I dropped my face sucking in a breath, rocking gently. He held me for a long while because even he knew this was worse than usual but after about twenty minutes I finally managed to take a breather.

"C'mon, let's get you upstairs" Blaise said as he supported me to stand up, I shifted and circled my shoulders.

"I think I can manage" I replied weakly, Blaise rolled his eyes and as always refused to remove his arm from around my waist. I sighed and we made our way upstairs. I hate this bit. The bit where they finally let you out and you feel so pathetic, so weak, but as soon as we moved into the main building from the basement I plastered a smile across my face.

"So come on tell me what's been going down while I've been on _holiday_" I snorted.

"Malcolm stabbed the new guy" Blaise grinned. My eyes widened, this new guy wouldn't be around long.

"Said his name?" I smirked, Blaise nodded. "When we say stabbed..." I began.

"A quill right through his hand" he answered. I flinched, I bet that hurt.

"Still here?"

"Yeah" he answered, I raised an eyebrow, "Yeah I'm surprised, being stabbed would scare me off" Blaise grinned, bloody Slytherin.

"If someone flicked you it would scare you off" I laughed as we finally reached the top floor and made our way into my room. Someone caught the door and I turned to see Vanessa Rivers stood in the doorway.

"Hey Ness" I smiled, heading to the bed to sit down. "Come in." I invited her in but as usual she hesitated and took a step in to be polite, leaning carefully against the door. Blaise had dropped into the chair and I had to smile. This was practically his room just as much as it was mine. This was probably where we were the safest compared to the rest of this place.

"We're glad you're back" Ness said quietly, speaking for the four of her. Ness had three alter egos: Luke, Sasha and May. We think she can see them sometimes in the worse moments of her life but mainly she just spoke with them. Ness was one of the lucky few who attended Hogwarts, she'd tricked the system to get there. She was really smart but we knew and Vanessa knew she was pretty insane, she definitely knew when to hide it though.

"Thank you Ness" I said with a smile, "Anything exciting happened whilst I was gone?" I asked her despite already asking Blaise the exact same question

"I told her about Malcolm" Blaise said with a grin. I figured he was the one who told Ness about Malcolm - he'd probably tell it well, he can be highly dramatic.

"Alan thinks the ground screams when it's hit by lightning and the New Guy -" she hesitated, almost unsure of what to say, "I've decided I don't like him."

"Yeah he's an arse, the idiot! I hate Joanna but he could have killed her never mind me! I mean honestly" I cried animatedly, flinging my arms in the air. Never mind Blaise, I could be highly dramatic when I wanted.

Vanessa shrugged at that since she really couldn't talk; she'd tried to kill Joanna once. I'd only just arrived when the whole thing had gone pear-shaped. It hadn't worked out and Ness had been sent off for fourth months but as a laugh Joanna wouldn't stay for more than eight minutes in the same room as Ness unless she was forced to.

"Why don't you like him Ness, anything in particular?" Blaise asked. It was a long while as she thought and I shifted into a more comfortable position on the bed, pouring myself some water watching as Blaise's dark eyes caught Ness's and she bit her lip. Ness was here when Blaise came to live here and I appeared not long after and we got on pretty well. We weren't like most other people here we understand Ness and the others.

"He doesn't understand, he's fucking new." Ness said, eyes fixing on the window before darting back, meeting Blaise's gaze and then my ice grey ones which were narrowed slightly, "and he called me doll so Sasha wants to kill him. Luke won't stop her and May is scared. Alan said he'd do it for me when I asked so it's okay, don't worry. I promise I won't go crazy."

She winked with a broad grin which made me laugh at her; this was very typical Ness. Blaise rolled his eyes as always but Ness knew that was just his thing.

"I really am glad you're back Mira" she repeated as I caught my reflection and took in that my usually messy black hair was even worse than usual. "Excited?" Ness asked finally

"For?" I replied looking at Blaise to see if he had any clue what was going on. He didn't.

"Hogwarts! It's only 879 hours and 36 minutes until you're on the train!" Ness said and I knew she was rapidly doing the calculations. "So are you excited?"

"Ness we haven't even been assessed! They might decide we can't go." Blaise said. Ness waved that aside with a smile.

"You're going to Hogwarts. You are. So are you excited?"

"I guess so." I said, a little uncomfortable, what if I didn't get into Hogwarts? Blaise would - but what about me?

"And even if we're not I know if we get there it will be exciting. The press are probably going to have a field day, us in the same year as Harry Potter, again if we get there." Blaise said quickly noting my face was a little worried. Ness wrinkled her nose at the mention of the press and it appeared she was having a conversation elsewhere, she hesitated and then sighed.

"Luke wants to know if you'd like a copy of my notes? They're organised by subject, coloured parchment and then topics within the subject."

"Thank you Ness but it's okay." Blaise said. He and I both knew Ness didn't share and she wouldn't be comfortable if we did take her up on her offer.

"Yeah we'll have our textbooks soon if we pass, we can take notes from that. Still, thank you very much." I added, Ness ducked her head with a smile, wearing her school tie wrapped around her forehead for some odd reason.

"Well I'm going to go and dance and I know you want to talk. I just heard you laughing, it sounded good." she finally told us.

"Don't worry about it Ness. You coming to dinner?" Blaise asked.

Ness shook her head "I had five hundred and forty five chews of coco pops, I'm good. See you later and be careful of the New Guy. He doesn't feel right, we're all agreed on that."

Blaise nodded for the both of us and I think Ness was glad we took her so seriously. Ness waved, fingers clenching up and down nine times quickly as a goodbye before she seemed to suddenly remember something.

"Oh, Mira?" she said, a blush brushed her cheeks as I looked to her, "I ate your pieces of toast for you."

I looked at her in surprise and then I thanked her quietly with a smile. The door closed almost silently and Blaise and I sat quietly for a moment. My mind drifted back to that finally memory.

Well if you could call it a memory, I doubt it considering it had yet to happen. I couldn't establish much from it, except for the fact that I'm sure _memory Mira _knew who the unknown male was and she was so terrified.

That's what scared me the most.

"What happened Mira?" Blaise asked firmly, his eyes locked to mine.

"It wasn't right" I said, "It wasn't just the Logan's house, or me sticking up for Tom. It wasn't just Giles and Ami..." my voice was hollow, "There was something, after that was all over, it wasn't a memory..." I whispered. Blaise's eyes narrowed, his face a picture of confusion for a brief moment as he absorbed my words.

"Do you think perhaps you had a vision of some sort?" he asked, I snorted but shuddered at the same time.

"Are you suggesting I can see the future Blaise?" I raised an eyebrow.

"It wouldn't be the first time..." he retorted, I blanched momentarily, my eyes darting to the door and back.

"That was a coincidence" I snapped, "Besides this memory, vision, thingie ma bobbie, I never EVER want to see it come true..." I told him, he rolled his eyes and sat back in his chair.

"One day when you become a seer, you'll probably kill me for saying I told you so..." he muttered, "What happened? Who was in it?" Blaise moved on quickly, something both he and I knew was a good idea.

"I couldn't see anything but shit, I was terrified Blaise" I stared down at my wrists, rubbing them subconsciously, "I was tied down and the other person in the memory-thing was a guy and I think memory-Mira knew him" I said, as Blaise appeared at my side once more, his arm looped round my waist.

"But you didn't know him..." he confirmed, I nodded, "Did he say anything?" Blaise asked, deep in thought as he sat at my side and kept me from breaking down.

"I told him or rather memory Mira told him that he'd never get away with it and he said something along the lines of: No baby I expect not... But by the time they find us it'll be over. I mean who says that... I woke up after that" I explained, circling my shoulders, which were still incredibly stiff from the fall down the stairs and days of little movement.

"Maybe it was your subconscious making stuff up from the previous memory" Blaise suggested, testing my ability to support myself before he removed his arm from my waist. He's right, my mind could have totally squished some memories together and came up with a totally whack one.

"You're right..." I yawned, "It could be coincidence again" I grinned at him as he dropped his head into his hand in defeat shaking his head slightly. He would do anything to prove I was slightly less normal than I already was. He didn't see it like that of course. I flopped back on the bed, despite being stationary for three days I was still shattered.

_You need a shower too!_ My subconscious shouted at me. So _pushy_.

"You smell" Blaise quipped as if he had read my mind, I pushed him hard off the bed but unfortunately he remained on his feet and made for the door.

"I hate you" I scowled at him, he grinned.

"You could never hate me Mira" he winked as he walked to the door and I rolled my eyes. I chucked a pillow at his retreating form but he was already gone.

_What would I do without him?_

The next morning, I felt much better and began plotting my revenge on the New Guy. As I made my way down the corridor, I saw that Blaise's door was open and the room was empty. Damn he went to breakfast already? I continued down to breakfast alone, checking my watch as I did. I noted that I was neither later nor early yet it seemed quiet but it only took me a few seconds to figure out why. Today was the day we've been waiting for, the twenty-fourth of august.

It's Hogwarts Assessment day.

My heart soars for a brief moment then drops like a stone - today could guarantee me a second chance or rip away my life just like that. All I have to do is get through the day and little over a week I could be heading to Platform Nine and Three Quarters. The hairs on my arms rose in anticipation as I entered the kitchen where Callum, Blaise and Thomas were sat already eating breakfast. Malcolm was there also, despite the age gap, sitting next to Thomas just talking to him as if Thomas would respond back.

Blaise's eyes met mine when I sit down opposite him and he gave me a reassuring smile. I grabbed a couple of slices of toast and covered it with a thick layer of chocolate spread. Might as well indulge myself now at least then I'll be happily fed when they tell me I can't go. I took a large bite.

"You'll get in" Callum said, his voice small but clear, "My sister, she should have started this year..." his eyes look sad and angry at the same time. For the gazillionth time since I got here I wondered whether that's a normal thing around here. Callum's sister who definitely would be starting this year was totally going on the instant dislike list. I hated that Callum had to wind up here, he's a good kid. I smiled softly at him after swallowing a mouthful of chocolate toast.

"I hope so" I replied.

"You better keep your fingers crossed for us scamp" Blaise added, scooping up a spoonful of Frosties after ruffling Callum's hair.

"I'll keep all of them crossed" he beamed, abandoning his breakfast and trying to cross all his fingers. I rolled my eyes and continued eating my toast. One by one people started drifting down to breakfast and something amused me greatly. Joanna tried to make a bet with Kacy - a bipolar 14 year old who'd been around about two years now - that I'd go mad like Giles had when I didn't get in. Kacy, who I got on with quite well, scowled at Joanna and told her calmly to Eff off because she was eating breakfast before meeting my eyes briefly and winking. I was glad she was having a good day; she was pretty witty when it came down to it.

It wasn't until just after nine that Keira Ashton entered the kitchen. If there was one adult that understood everyone here it was her. Well, and Milo Jordan, but he tended to smuggle in prank items made by his brother's best friends for us all. Instant Peruvian Darkness Powder was just one of those items.

The three you had to look out for were Ella-Lousie, Fabian Knowles and Jake Panbing, although Jake lived in the grounds. He sets the wards around Caylarium so no one escapes - basically he's in charge of security. Fabian is a teacher here, he along with Milo, are in charge of helping people to read, write, add, etc. He's really not good compared to Milo, who is the one you really want, Fabian was a coward and a sucky teacher.

And then last and certainly least there is Ella-Louise. I hate to say it but she's unusually pretty for someone with such a fugly personality. She was the woman on the front line of this place, she ran it and span it. That's what we called it because she did run the place but she spins a horrendous web of lies to convince people Caylarium is a good place for a child. Another thing she does is force feed kids medicine, which has to be done the muggle way because the magical way that used to be used damaged the magical core. So consequently my arms looked like they belonged to a bloody drug addict not an eleven year old almost twelve year old child.

"You okay Mira?" Keira asked me, when she realised I'd zoned out and I realised she had been talking and I hadn't been listening.

"Yeah I'm fine" I replied, finishing my toast, "it's a big day" I added.

"Don't worry you and Blaise will be fine" Keira smiled as she helped Callum clear his stuff away.

"Yeah Mira I'll be fine" Blaise joked, I kicked him under the table sharply before smiling sweetly at him, "You've got chocolate on your nose" he added, rubbing his shin with a frown. I rubbed my nose with the back of my hand and stuck my tongue out at him. He opened his mouth to respond but Ella-Louise appeared in the doorway.

"Blaise, Mira, there's a ministry official in the main hallway" she said, "Let's not keep him waiting"

_Urgh_ her voice goes through me. I can't believe it still annoys me. Blaise gave me the look and I realise he's ready to go and I have no socks or shoes on.

"I just have to get my shoes" I replied.

"Two minutes Mira otherwise you can go as you are" she responded with a huge fake grin.

"Yes Miss" I grimaced and practically sprinted upstairs because I knew she was being deadly serious.

I skidded back into the main hall two minutes later still pulling a shoe on. Blaise smirked at me as the ministry official looked down his nose in disgust and checked his watch. I ruffled my fringe to the side and met Blaise's gaze. His eyes snapped to the man and he jerked his head in the same direction.

"What a git" he mouthed from behind him, I coughed to cover up a laugh and shook my head so my fringe dropped back over my eyes.

"The cars waiting, let's go" he said, holding the door open to let us through but I knew already that it certainly wasn't out of politeness but out of wariness. If we were behind him he wouldn't be able to keep an eye on us thereby he was trying to give himself the upper hand. Like either of us were going to do something stupid on a day like today and hinder our chances of getting into Hogwarts.

"So we're going by car to the ministry?" I scoff under my breath.

"What you didn't think they were going to let you floo anywhere, did you?" Blaise quipped.

I scowled at him, "Oh yes I find it highly likely that they're going to let a pyromaniac use the floo" I sighed as we begin our journey to the ministry. I was sure it wouldn't be too hard for me to use the floo, in fact, I'd probably be most adept. I shifted in my seat uncomfortably as the countryside started whizzing past. It wasn't often that I left the wards of Caylarium and usually I really would take more in but I was just too distracted by the day ahead.

Blaise and I didn't talk the whole way there although we both know we were just as anxious as the other one. It's not as easy to be ourselves around people we didn't know. There was a moment somewhere in the journey where I grabbed his hand and didn't let go. He didn't even flinch or look round from the window but I felt more comforted than I was before.

After a painstaking journey of around three hours the car came to a halt outside a red telephone box on a back road in the centre of London.

"I think I've lost all feeling in my hand, thanks Black" Blaise said, shaking his hand like he'd just had an arm wrestle with Chuck Norris.

"No problem Zabini" I smirked climbing out of the car and into the phone box. It was a really tight fit having Blaise, the Ministry Guy and myself all squished inside but the guy just grumbled and reached past Blaise to grab the receiver and type in the number _six-two-four-four-two_.

"Magic!" Blaise and I chorused before looking down at the floor and waiting for something else to happen.

"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business." A clear cool female voice said as if she were standing right next to us.

"John Teller, Department of Exams and Further Studies, here to escort Blaise Zabini and Mira Black for their Hogwarts assessments" the guy said clearly into the receiver.

"Thank you" the voice returned, "Visitors, please take the correct badges and attach them to the front of your robes"

Two badges shot down the chute where coins would usually dispense and I hurriedly picked up the correct one. _Mira Black, Hogwarts Assessment._

"Visitors, you will be submitted to a search and be registered as an official visitor to the ministry upon arriving at your assessment" the voice rang out as the phone box began to sink into the pavement making me immediately tense up and shift towards Blaise ever so slightly. Almost too quickly we were lapsed into complete darkness and all we could hear was the grinding of stone as we sunk deeper and deeper into the ground. Luckily it couldn't have been longer than a minute when light began to rise up from our feet until it reached our eyes making me blink tightly just like coming out of isolation after a few days.

"The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant day" the female voice said one more before the door of the telephone box swung open and we stepped out into the hustle and bustle of the Ministry Atrium.

"This way" John Teller beckoned us immediately away from the main atrium and into a lift where he pressed a button which read: _Departments Education through Improper Use of Magic Office_. Blaise read it under his breath.

"I could do with reporting a few people to that office" he added quietly and I completely agreed with him of course. The lift doors slid across and I watched the crowd of other people outside the lift shoot away as the lift jerked backwards and down out of sight in two fluid movements. I hate lifts - they make me feel queasy.

We eventually found ourselves sitting outside the Testing and Assessment Office, just us, alone.

"I think this might be the first test Black" Blaise said, leaning back in his chair his face barely twitching into a grin.

"Quite possibly..." I retorted, "What do you think we should be doing?" I asked him, swinging my feet back and forth along the carpet beneath me.

"I don't know - but I expect they don't want a song and dance" he responded. I rolled my eyes and thanked god that I got his sarcasm because it goes straight over everyone else's heads.

The first two tasks of the day take until 11 o'clock. They tested both our General and Magical Knowledge over a series of about one hundred and fifty multiple choice answers. By the end of the tests I was completely zapped but I reckoned I'd done pretty well. Blaise seemed positive too, although, I reckoned he was much cleverer than I was.

"There's drinks over there" the receptionist nodded to us and we looked at each other. I was about to go over but Blaise stopped me discretely.

"That's okay Ma'am, we're fine" he said before we took our seats once more and I glared at him.

"Erm Blaise, why the hell do I not want a drink?" I whispered harshly under my breath.

"Because Mira, it could be a test, it could have something in it. Anything as minor as caffeine could change the way you behave" he responded, I instantly felt a bit pissed off that I didn't think of that already, "Start thinking before you do things, at least try for the next seven hours..."

"Yeah yeah I know" I replied, "They don't want to admit the crazy kids" I said in a higher pitched voice than before. It was all stupid, no other child had to do all this, they just got in. Although, if everyone at Caylarium got the help they needed maybe we all wouldn't have to go through this.

"Mira Black" a male voice called out, my head snapped up and there was a tall man stood in a nearby doorway. He had sandy blonde hair and was dressed in smart robes which designated him as a St Mungos Healer.

"That's me" I said.

"Do you want to follow me?" he smiled, "We're ready to do your medical now"

A medical? That's sounds fun. Not. I stood up and followed the man through to an office as I left I heard Blaise being taken off elsewhere for his medical. It was a doctor's office so I loitered in the doorway afraid to go in but of course I didn't show that. I just stared at him blankly.

"Take a seat" he said as soon as he noticed that I had remained by the doorway and anxiously I crossed the room and sat down, "I'm Nathan Goldstein, a healer from St Mungos, how are you feeling today?" he asked, his smile still lingering on his face.

"I'm okay" I responded, nervous that if I said anymore I'd say something wrong.

"Have you had any illness or injury in the last two weeks?" his eyes moved quickly upwards to my eye where I had whacked in my fall down the stairs.

"Well, I fell down the stairs about four days ago now" I shrugged slightly, "Hurt my eye a bit"

"May I?" Nathan leant forward and ran his thumb across the cut just above my eyebrow, "This probably could have done with being professionally seen to when it occurred" I wanted to shrug again, what was I supposed to do? I knew that but clearly the people that should do didn't.

"It didn't hurt too badly" I answered in response to his thoughts. I wanted to add that I was used to it that, I'd survived almost five years at Caylarium. I could get through another six years.

"Did you get a headache? Feel woozy or dizzy? Odd dreams? Anything like that?" Nathan questioned, I shook my head.

"Did you injure yourself elsewhere?"

"Not really, just bruises"

"Could have been a lot worse" he supplied, "You clearly know how to fall down the stairs with grace, Miss Black"

For the first time under the presence of someone other than Blaise since arriving here I smiled.

"I do everything with grace" I grinned before adding Mr Goldstein to the end. I forgot that I had to act politely here. To my surprise he smiled back.

"Even falling down the stairs?" he asked.

"Even falling down the stairs" I repeated. Why wasn't this guy giving off such bad vibe?

_Not everyone's out to get you_, my subconscious told me and I tried not to scowl.

"Now Miss Black, if you would be so kind as to stand up so I can do a diagnostic" he asked, standing up himself and pulling out his wand; I bit my lip and he instantly sensed my hesitation, "It won't hurt and you will not feel a thing, you have my word"

Anxiously I stood up and took a small step away from the seat. He waved his wand towards and I couldn't help but squeeze my eyes shut. Nothing happened but after thirty seconds Nathan Goldstein spoke again.

"All done, you can take a seat again and we'll go through these" he said. Together we found out that I was in good physical condition but pretty much everything else was quite boring. He put the diagnostic into a file with my name on it and pulled another piece of paper out. It was labelled Initial Report and dated the 25th November 1985. I paled a little - that piece of paper put me in Caylarium.

"Do you mind if I read this out - I feel if you know what you're dealing with you might find it easier to establish what people here and elsewhere might think of you" he said to me, "I personally believe if you know what this says then you will be able to use that to get to Hogwarts"

Wait? He wanted me to go to Hogwarts, he wanted me to be out of the dark on all this? It all sounded very sneaky on Nathan Goldstein's behalf. I didn't deserve this anyway, all this testing and assessment, not me, not Blaise, not Ness, not Ami, not even Giles.

"I'm not crazy - some people build a picture too quickly. About being a Caylarium resident, about being a Black - I am not my father. I am an eleven year old kid" I retorted, my voice was raised slightly but I stopped abruptly knowing it was stupid to speak out of turn like that, "Sorry" I said quickly following my outburst.

"Miss Black, I do not form opinions from reports, place of residency or on last names" he warned, "I also believe that you are very right about people's stereotypical way of thinking"

I was still on edge though, even after his reassurance that he was not prejudice in any way at all. I secretly hoped that Blaise's medical was going better than mine but if I know Blaise, which I do, he can be incredibly detached.

Right now he's probably wearing a bored face and answering questions in a very straight way. Blaise is so different around other people, even at Caylarium he's only himself to Ness, Callum and I. He's an observer, he prefers to make a judgement based on what he sees whereas I do the opposite. I just do things straight away not really thinking - he balances me out he makes me think a little more.

After a moments silence Mr Goldstein spoke again, "Still want read?"

"Please" I said my voice barely above a whisper.

"Right, I'm going to read out the assessors comments" he replied, hmm I remember the assessor being a jerk, "I first met Mira Black when she was at the age of six years and two months. She clearly has developed pyromaniac tendencies by becoming an arsonist ..."

"I am not an arsonist!" I interjected.

"You burnt down your foster parents house" he reminded me.

"I didn't know any better I was a six year old being abused not a sadistic demon child" I countered before I froze. This is why I need Blaise, I wouldn't say stupid things like that which only he knew.

"Pardon?" he stuttered, his eyes quickly scanning the report as I dropped my head into my hands.

_Nice going Mira_. You caused an issue that never needed to be fixed. It could have easily been left alone. You better think bloody fast.

"Never mind just forget it" I muttered, the Logan's got away with what they did to me. Although I can't say I kicked up a fuss, in fact, I avoided the subject and remained impartial to the events happening around me. Besides it was done, over, something like that was going to stop me getting to Hogwarts.

"Miss Black did your foster parents harm you in anyway?" he asked looking down at me. Yeah, just physically, emotionally, mentally. Pretty much everything. I wondered whether to lie or not.

"Look, Mr Goldstein, I don't care about what's already happen. It's like forgiving and forgetting but without the forgiving part" I explained, "I just want to be treated like a normal eleven year old, you wouldn't put someone who was dyslexic through an ordeal like this so why put us through it? Why put a kid with ADHD through it? Why put a kid who got angry once through it? Why put a kid who didn't know any better at six through it?" I tried not to raise my voice throughout but by the end I was shaking. I moved the conversation on so well he blinked at my downright disrespect and then smiled.

"Usually I'd have to tell a parent but since that can't really happen I will respect your decision" he told me, I hardly believed he was treating me like a normal kid let alone as maturely as an adult, "I don't think it's necessarily a good idea to let them get away with it..." he began.

"Please Mr Goldstein just... keep reading it out" I interrupted, he quickly held up his hands to stop me and grabbed hold of the initial report once more.

"An issue that also was picked up by the previous foster parents was Mira's inability to remain calm and have angry sometimes violent outbursts" he continued, I scowled, only if I was provoked. I said nothing in reply to this and allowed him to continue to read out the rest of the report. After doing all the rest of the assessment went pretty much perfectly, Nathan Goldstein let me into a small secret. He was going to approve my medical, which confirmed me of sound mind and that I was physically fit to attend Hogwarts. However sure I was that he was telling the truth, I still couldn't fully put my trust in him.

I was glad to finally meet back up with Blaise and I flopped into the seat next to him. He face was hardened, his jaw set and his eyes were distant. Great.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Fine" he said briskly, I rolled my eyes and dropped my head back staring up at the white ceiling above me. I hate Blaise when he was like this.

"If you're going to be an arse Zabini, just listen to me" I said quietly, "Whatever they said, did, whatever they're going to say, to do, you're going to pass. I know it" I told him, "I know it..." I whispered. He didn't speak and I sighed in frustration. Surely this was over now, surely. I stared up at the clock, one in the afternoon, we weren't scheduled to finish until six so what the hell was next?

Ten minutes later, Blaise and I found ourselves in a classroom with eight other children around our age perhaps slightly older. They called this a mock lesson, I suspected it was to test our interaction with other students and with the teacher I imagine.

"Hi" a boy sat down next to Blaise and smiled at him, he had dark hair and was fairly small. I tried not to snort, Blaise is very cold with people he didn't know or like.

"Hello" he responded forcing a smile across his face.

"Are you looking forward to the class?" the boy asked.

"I am, are you?" Blaise replied, his eyes meeting mine briefly. I soon realised after the boys mindless chatter to Blaise even after the lesson had begun that they were doing it because he could be as good as mute. I turned to try and focus on the man doing the lesson but to be honest I had no clue what it was about. It was at this point I noticed the girl sat in the seat in front of me to the right was scowling at me. I frowned at her and tried desperately to focus on what was going on but in my peripheral vision I saw her crumple up some parchment and throw it towards me. I grabbed the paper from the air and slammed it down on the table, trying not to look back at the girl. I wasn't going to start a fight with this girl not here, unfortunately, it wasn't the girl I had to worry about.

"Miss Black, were you going to throw that?" the teacher snapped, I glared at him, "How dare you disrupt my class!" I took a deep breath and tried to ignore my natural instincts.

"Don't" Blaise barely moved his lips.

"Miss Black answer me" the man interrupted, "Were you going to throw that parchment?" I felt my fists clench but I managed to get some polite words out.

"Of course not sir, I wouldn't want to disrupt your class" I replied as convincingly as I could, which turned out as well as I could have hoped for. He seemed to ignore my retort and I assumed he had going to turn back to his lesson but he didn't. He pointed his wand at the scrunched up piece of parchment on the desk.

"Incendio!" he shouted, the parchment went up in flames and my eyes fixated on it. The fire spread round the paper and I gripped the edge of my seat in order to resist doing something stupid. I can't believe they're doing this on purpose. I closed my eyes briefly as the flames died and every set of eyes in the room were fixed on me.

Calmly I picked up my quill and looked to the teacher to continue. He looked somewhat unimpressed that I hadn't reacted in the way he'd expected. I was lucky that I was able to control my magic because usually when I see fire and I react oddly, my magic reacts oddly too. When he eventually turned around I looked to Blaise who grinned at me.

"Nice going Black, you got through that relatively calmly" he smirked, I nudged him lightly and luckily no one saw.

Finally we had reached the last task. Blaise and I were separated one again and I was locked in a room. I instantly became more aware of my surroundings and my body tensed as I turned to face the room. On the far side in the corner there was a newspaper on the table and slowly I approached it. I was scared of what I was going to see. My heart skipped a beat as I picked up the Daily Prophet. What the-?

What is this?

BLACK'S DAUGHTER FOLLOWS FATHERS FOOTSTEPS

Are you joking me? I pressed on through the paper, which reported - in great detail - how I'd lost my mind and killed over thirty people, muggleborns specifically. I felt sick, this wasn't me, I wasn't like this. It continued to highlight my past, abnormalities that didn't exist, abnormalities that perhaps did exist and dramatic detail into my acts of homicide. I shuddered but quickly put the paper down - if I reacted badly - fuck this isn't good.

I'm not like my Dad. I turned over the paper turning to the crossword because, of course, I hadn't done it today. I made it seem like I wasn't bothered but inside my mind was reeling. Going through the words in the Prophet over and over and over again.

_'Mira Black, daughter of notorious Sirius Black...'_

'_...slaughtered thirty-seven muggleborn witches and wizards..._'

'..._expelled from Hogwarts_...'

'..._crazed and riddled with mental abnormalities_...'

I rubbed my head, which was spinning, I couldn't be like my father and I'm not crazy, I'm not. I swear to god I'm not. Inside, my body was shaking and my fingers shaking trying to comprehend this.

Suddenly a radio in the corner jumped to life. Funny I hadn't noticed that on the way in.

_'...We are sorry to report that our usual Wireless reporter has been viciously murdered by the current Azkaban escapee Mira Black...'  
_  
I covered my ears, focusing my eyes down on the crossword where the boxes merged in front of my eyes and the words around doing something similar. What the fuck is this?!

"I know I'm not like this" I said aloud, "So just let me out when you're ready to, I'm just going to do this crossword" I told the empty room. I was surprised that my voice didn't falter, it stayed strong despite the fact that inside I was losing it.

They couldn't possibly predict that I would ever become my father. I would never ever become my father; I couldn't be prejudice like that let alone killing thirty-seven muggleborns in cold blood. Sickening. I rubbed my hands together to cover up the fact as they started to shake uncontrollably. Fuck.

Fuck. Let me out of here. I felt like they were restraining me here because of this article. I felt like I'm mad.

Oh god what if they never let me out? What if this was all a trick and they just lured me here so I would never escape? I wanted to throw up, I'd get up and pound on the door if it wasn't for the fact that part of me still thought this was a test.

I focused on nine down: a magazine which is primarily based on fictional or conspiracy based facts. Eleven letters.

THE QUIBBLER

I scribbled the answer in and my eyes came to rest on six across: Notorious Murderer who killed thirteen muggles and one wizard. Eleven letters.

SIRIUS BLACK

Shakily I quilled in the correct answer, I was going to lose it soon. I needed to get out of here - now. I tried to take some deep breaths and cleared my mind. Suddenly I felt hollow and all I cared about was finishing the crossword.

Three Minutes.

"Done" I barely whispered to myself, I do the prophet crossword every single day and my time just gets better and better but it was never that good. I jumped when the door behind me opened. My clasped my hands together to stop them from shaking as someone took me back to the waiting room. When I was finally alone I dropped my head into my lap my whole body uncontrollably trembling. Would I forever be compared to my father? I don't know how many times it has been brought up and usually I was so good at ignoring it. I ran my fingers through my hair, massaging circles into my head. Is this over yet? Is this over?

Blaise returned and sat next to me, without any words at all he grabbed my hand. My eyes snapped to him – this was so un-Blaise like. His eyes were dark, focused on the clock on the far wall. At six o'clock we were going to find out what whether we'd be attending Hogwarts or not. What had they done to Blaise, what had been in the last room for Blaise?

All we had to do was get through the next ten minutes and it was at this moment that I realised without Blaise there I would have most certainly lost the plot.

I squeezed his hand, "It's going to be okay, no matter what, it's going to be okay"

**Watching Alias :) – Would love reviews in exchange for cookies.**

**Ami xx**


	3. Diagon Alley

**MB CHAPTER THREE**

Disclaimer: I'm no genius – anything you recognise isn't mine only Mira and Caylarium and all the OC's are mine. Oh except Ness…

Vanessa Rivers belongs to my best friend – to read an extract of her story search for Cookies-And-Ink in author search.

**Yeah this has been done for ages – I'm not going to lie I got lost in the HPFC Forums and signed up for like ten challenges. Sorry.**

**Any mistakes are mine. If you're interesting in beta-ing this story PM me or mention it in a review.**

**Chapter Three – Diagon Alley  
**  
Six o'clock came and went and by six-fifteen I was starting to get edgy. Why would they keep us waiting like this? Blaise was still gripped onto my hand and I was starting to think there really was something wrong with our results. My results.

"Miss Black. Mr Zabini." a voice said, my head snapped up and Blaise didn't even twitch. Stood in front of us was John Teller, the man who had escorted us here and just behind him at the desk I could see Nathan Goldstein talking quietly to the receptionist but he was clearly listening into the conversation we were having. I didn't reply but I met Teller's gaze to show that I'm listening for the both of us.

"We have the results of both your assessments" he said.

"And?" I asked much too eagerly than I should have – what if we don't get in?

"You've both passed" he replied, he wore no smile and came across as particularly unfriendly but my heart sored. We were going to Hogwarts. I'm going to Hogwarts. For ten out of twelve months a year we wouldn't have to be at Caylarium Institution at all just the Summer. Besides who would want to go back for Christmas, nobody celebrates Christmas at Caylarium, we have a Christmas tree – to keep up appearances – but no one gets gifts and none of the staff want to be there either. So on Christmas Eve, the rooms are locked and we were given food to get us through the next day, Christmas Day. It's pretty crap.

"Oh thank god" I whispered, Healer Goldstein winked at me from the desk and gave me a smile, files in hand as he strode away.

"Hey they let you in" Blaise breathed to me once Jon Teller returned to the desk to sign us out.

"Shut it Zabini!" I punched him lightly and he coiled his arm round my neck pulling my face to his chest tightly. He ruffled my hair and I squealed, flailing my arms around. Teller gave us a nasty look and reluctantly Blaise let go.

"What a stiff" he whispered with a grin as I tugged my head away and ran my hand through my hair. Silently I agreed, Teller seemed a little touchy perhaps because he still had to take us back to Caylarium or perhaps it was just being around us anyway. Bloody typical.

The car journey back might be fun after all.

-

Two days later Blaise and I were outside by the lake chucking a Quaffle aimlessly to each other. It was early, too early but somewhere in the next half an hour a teacher from Hogwarts would be arriving to accompany us to Diagon Alley, where we would buy our school stuff. We'd get a wand and all sorts of stuff.

"What do you think the teacher is going to be like?" I asked, chucking the Quaffle high up into the air and watching Blaise have to stumble backwards to catch it.

"Better than Fabian I expect" Blaise replied.

"Anyone would be better than Fabian" I snorted, moving sharply to the side to snatch the Quaffle from the air.

"I expect…" he began.

"Mr Zabini, Miss Black, come inside please" Ella-Louise called from the main house, she'd been ever so tetchy since we'd been accepted to Hogwarts so we followed orders straight away and raced each other back to the house. In the back room were Ella-Louise and another woman. She was taller than Ella-Louise – somewhere around 5'9 most likely. Her hair was short, grey and spikey but it was her eyes that I found vaguely mysterious. They were like cat's eyes, her pupils like slits on orbs of bright yellow set like stone in an age-old and stern face.

"Ah Mira, Blaise, this is Madam Hooch from Hogwarts, she is here to escort you to pick up your Hogwarts equipment" Ella-Louise told us, we stayed quiet for a moment eyeing up the woman, "Well, greet her correctly"

"Good Morning Ma'am" Blaise replied, I followed quickly afterwards otherwise Ella-Louise would skewer me later when we came back.

"Come, we will Floo to Diagon Alley" Madam Hooch said, beckoning Blaise and I forward. My head snapped to her, Floo?

"Perhaps Flooing would not be such a good idea, Mira –" Ella-Louise interrupted.

"Nonsense – I am perfectly aware of the issue. Flooing is a common and popular way of getting around, Black will have to get used to it sooner or later" Hooch retorted, I wasn't sure whether I liked this woman or not. She was technically allowing me the freedom I don't usually get but her tone was cold and to-the-point. Ella-Louise for once seemed speechless as Blaise and I followed Hooch to the fireplace. She handed us both a handful of Floo Powder.

"You know how to do this right?" she asked, we both nodded, "Good, Zabini, you first, then I will follow and then Black you follow after me" Hooch commanded.

"Don't fuck it up Black" Blaise whispered as he passed me.

"Try not to get lost – I know that's hard but at least try" I responded with a grin. Blaise sauntered over to the fireplace.

"DIAGON ALLEY" he shouted, dropping the powder and as soon as it came into contact with the floor a whoosh of green flame sprung up from the ashes. I stepped backwards slightly feeling the flames course through my body even from three metres back. Yet even though I step back my mind wants me to reach out and touch it. I lifted my hand ever so slightly then froze, closing my eyes.

"Right I will go next, then Black, you follow" Hooch commanded, I nodded silently. In a whirl of green flames and spot she disappeared. I stepped forward towards the fireplace but Ella-Louise called my name just as I climbed in.

"If Madam Hooch reports to me that you've caused trouble expect to be in isolation until the night before Hogwarts begins" she warned.

"Yes Miss" I responded.

"Let Blaise know" she added.

"Yes Miss" I paused for a millisecond, "DIAGON ALLEY"

Next thing I knew I'd been spat out into a pub straight onto my arse, looking up at Madam Hooch and Blaise who was smirking a little. I scowled and immediately clambered to my feet, brushing soot off my jeans. For a moment I was confused as to where we were but then I realised this was The Leaky Cauldron. The pub that connected the Muggle world to the Magical one. There wasn't many people inside the pub but we soon moved out into the main Alley, which was practically splitting at the seams with people all rushing about to collect the things that they needed. The main street was fairly narrow, kind of crooked shops towered high above the street and ran all the way down until it reached the majestic white building of Gringrotts. I guessed that was where we'd be heading first - I was right because that seemed to be where Hooch was going. Blaise handed me my key which he'd insisted on looking after because apparently I lost things. I had a trust vault which was all mine but there was seven vaults that I would be entitled to once I was of age. Not that I needed seven more vaults of gold and dark objects there was too much in the trust vault that in the last five years I'd hardly made a dint in the money in there.

When we arrived in Gringrotts main hall, one man in particular stood out: he must have been almost three metres in height with long scraggy black hair and a matching beard. As well as this he was dressed in a long brown trench coat.

"Hagrid" Madam Hooch called out to the man, who turned around and beamed across the hall, hurrying over with a small scrawny black haired boy in tow.

"Madam Hooch, how are you?" he smiled, his voice rough completely contrasting his beaming smile and glittering beetle black eyes.

"I'm very well thank you" she replied, "I see you are escorting Mr Potter to his vault"

Well. Well. Well. What do you know? It's Harry Potter, saviour of the wizarding world. I met Blaise's eyes momentarily and then looked at Harry. His eyes were bright green and the famous lightning bolt scar could only just be seen through his fringe.

"Hi, I'm Harry" he nervously smiled at us.

"Mira" I responded, "And this is Blaise" Blaise simply nodded at him and I rolled my eyes at his crispness, "He's always like that so just ignore him" I told Harry with a faint smile and Blaise just scowled at me.

"Oh right, are you guys are going to Hogwarts then?" Harry asked, looking rather hopeful.

"Yes" boy it felt good to say that, "First year" I smiled, Harry's eyes lit up and he returned the smile.

"Me too" Harry replied.

"You most certainly cannot take Mr Potter down to that vault" Madam Hooch said to Hagrid and Harry and I turned to them. Blaise as usual was already eavesdropping.

"Oh..." Hagrid looked at a loss and Hooch seemed to be thinking something through.

"Potter may come with us since his vault is in the vicinity of our journey" she eventually said as we approached the desk where the Goblin started speaking to Hooch. Hagrid clearly couldn't say no.

"Erm Harry, change of plan, you're going to go with Madam Hooch here - she's the flying teacher and in charge of Quidditch at Hogwarts. You'll meet back with me later" Hagrid told Harry, who nodded and watched as Hagrid disappeared with another Goblin. Poor Harry, getting to hang out with the crazy kids.

"Right let's go" Hooch said as a Goblin named Griphook beckoned us towards a set of gates which led down to the vaults. No one really said anything as we all loaded onto a cart: Hooch and Harry in the front behind Griphook and Blaise and I in the back.

"Vault 686, Miss Black" Griphook said as we stopped. It turned out vault 687 was a Potter trust fund and further down at vault 655 was Blaise's money. Harry's jaw hit the floor when he finally got to see the contents of his vault. He looked like he hadn't ever seen money before so the look on his face was priceless. I guessed he didn't know he had that much money but it appeared that perhaps he hadn't really had any clue that he had any money at all, judging by the hand-me-down clothes anyway.

Speculation about Harry Potter was far and in between since the end of the first wizarding war. No one knew where he was, Albus Dumbledore the Headmaster of Hogwarts had hushed it all up. The prophet had hypothesised, of course, that he was taken by Deatheaters, that he was dead and even more wild accusations such as he was a werewolf and living with a pack in the north of England. However, this was the Daily Prophet we were talking about - hardly a _reliable_ source.

Besides judging by the look of him I'd say Blaise had gotten it right when he leaned over to talk to me as we were leaving Gringrotts "Potter doesn't look very well look very looked after"

I glanced at Harry, he was unnecessarily skinny for an eleven year old, fairly pale and a height that met my 4'9". On top of that his clothes were three sizes too big and his glasses looked like they'd been broken one too many times.

"Miss Black, Mr Zabini" Hooch pulled two letters from her robe pocket and handed them over to us, "These are lists of the equipment you require, I suggest we all start at Madam Malkins and get your uniform and perhaps then if you are in need of more casual wear then we can go to Gladrags for Wizarding or Muggle wear"

Harry and Blaise both nodded along and I had to reluctantly agree too. Personally I would have much preferred to get our wands or pop into Quality Quidditch Supplies.

We entered Madam Malkins store to find that it was quite busy, clearly everyone was shopping today. Madam Malkin was a squat, smiling witch but there was a downside she was dressed completely in mauve and I'm pretty sure this was the only colour I'd ever seen her.

"Hogwarts, dears?" she said before anyone else could speak, "Got the lot here today — another couple of students being fitted up just now, in fact."

In the back of the shop, a rugged haired boy of about fourteen was standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up his long black and yellow robes. Next to him was a pair of older girls probably about seventeen: one dark haired and one red headed getting fitted for black and blue robes. There was one last boy in the far corner with very short dark hair and perhaps too much puppy fat. He was being fitted for plain black robes too so he must be a first year too. I nudged Blaise, "That's your new dorm-mate" I grinned. He snorted and looked distastefully in the direction of the chubby boy.

"Come on dearie, you first" Malkin beckoned me forward, "What's your name?" she asked as she lead me onto an empty stand, slipped a long black robe over my head and began to pin it to the right length.

"Mira" I answered, refraining from using my last name.

"Which house?"

"I'm first year" I replied with a frown.

"Of course, of course" she hustled and bustled around me sticking pins in occasionally. Another lady took Harry's arm and he took the place of one of the girls who had been fitted for the black and blue robes. I tried not to think of them as houses, not really, because I knew when Blaise and I were sorted differently we couldn't afford to look at it as two different houses at all. The other girl was soon replaced with Blaise, who was also questioned on his house. I guessed we kind of looked older and acted older but did we really seem like we were already students?

"Why do some people have coloured robes?" Harry asked.

"The colours tell you which house the person is in" I responded with a minute frown. Something told me that Harry hadn't been brought up in the Wizarding world.

"Do you get told what house you're in at Hogwarts?" he questioned, a blank look across his face.

"No you get sorted at the welcoming feast into one of the four houses" I told him as Malkin made me hop down from the stand. Before I knew it I had a pile of uniform in my hands, three sets of robes, skirts, five shirts, a tie, two cardigans and a jumper. It wasn't until Hooch cast a lightening spell on the bag they were being put in that it finally felt manageable to carry.

After we had all paid for our clothing, we went down a side Alley to visit a shop called Gladrags which Hooch had mentioned before. Gladrags was a chain store which sold both ordinary and Muggle clothing. Whilst Harry stuck to mainly Muggle clothing, Blaise and I took a selection from both although Blaise brought more sets of robes than I did as I expected. I rather preferred Muggle clothing, I found it more comfortable.

"Erm Mira" Harry appeared at my side as I was looking for one last set of robes.

"Yeah Harry" I responded, pulling a set of blue robes of the shelf.

"If I was buying Wizarding wear what would I buy?" he asked nervously.

"You should ask Blaise" I smiled.

"I don't think Blaise likes me" Harry responded dully, I laughed.

"He's like that all the time with new people" I brushed off Harry's assumption with a grin, "OI ZABINI!" I shouted across the stop causing several people to look round including Blaise who scowled, "Help Harry pick out some robes!" I called to him, pushing Harry in Blaise's direction with a smirk. I watched as a few words were exchanged between the two boys and then turned back to my own shopping.

Later on I figured Blaise had warmed to Harry as we arrived Flourish and Blotts where the shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books as large as paving stones bound in leather; books the size of postage stamps in covers of silk; books full of peculiar symbols and a few books with nothing in them at all. Blaise happened to be pointing out books such as Curses and Countercurses (Bewitch Your Friends and Befuddle Your Enemies with the Latest Revenges: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue-Tying and Much, Much More) by Professor Vindictus Viridian and eventually both boys had picked up a copy.

I pretty much stuck to the magazine section loading Quidditch Weekly, Swish - a comic book - and The Muggle Chronicles, which followed the adventures of Jack and Paul, two mad muggles, into my arms. Although I did vaguely stray into the book section, A, to pick up my school books and B to pick up three other books: Hogwarts: A History, How To Hex Your Friends But More Importantly Your Enemies and Magical Practical Jokes For Practical Jokers. Blaise shook his head unenthusiastically when I reached the checkout but he was grinning besides that especially when I pointed out the Curses and Counter-Curses book

All that came to sixteen and five sickles and Madam Hooch hurried us from the store and down the street to a Magical Items store which I had already forgotten the name of. Hooch wouldn't let us buy solid gold cauldrons because it said pewter on the list but we all got the best set of scales for weighing potion ingredients in and a collapsible brass telescope for astronomy.

After that we went next door to the Apothecary, which was fascinating enough to make up for its horrible smell. It stank. Much like a mixture old socks, bad eggs and rotten vegetables. There was barrels and barrels of slimy stuff stood by the near wall; jars of herbs, dried roots, and bright powders lined the shelves above them; bundles of feathers, strings of fangs, and snarled claws hung down from the ceiling too. Harry examined some silver unicorn horns at twenty-one Galleons each and minuscule, glittery-black beetle eyes, which were five Knuts a scoop.

On the wall behind the desk there were phials, phials and more phials except for the occasional flask and other such glass objects. In the far corner there was a fire and I had to get a hell of a lot closer to see that in the fire were several hundred, squirming, glowing-red fire beetles. I took a step forward when Blaise put his arm out in front of me.

"Hey there, just look, don't touch" he reminded me quietly before slowly pulling me to the desk where Hooch asked the man behind the counter for three supplies of some basic potion ingredients for us.

Outside the Apothecary, Hooch asked Blaise to check his list to see what we had left, "Classroom equipment, a pet and wands" he responded.

Next thing we knew, we were squished inside a very small narrow shop, where the one complete wall was lined with unopened ink bottles. There was rolls and rolls of parchment and four times as many quills to ink bottles. The Quills came in all types: Eagle Owl, Barn Owl, Raven, Snowy Owl, Peacock, Eagle — there were too many to remember. Harry chose Eagle Owl Quills brought plain Green ink but also a pot of ink that changed colour as you wrote. Blaise went for Barn Owl Quills only because I told him the Raven ones looked cliché but he chose to just buy plain old black ink. It took me a while to decide between hippogriff feather and peacock feather Quills but in the end I brought one of each alongside a pot of purple and a pot of blue ink.

As we headed over to Eeylops Owl Emporium, I mentally debated whether it would be an acceptable thing to take a pet back to Caylarium. I mean I'm sure Ness didn't have a pet, although, I couldn't really imagine her having an owl or something.

"Blaise, do you think...?" I began.

"No, you think taking an animal back to that place without you having a clue how to ward its cage or protect it is a good idea?" he answered out of earshot of Harry. I dropped my head, I guess not. I sighed, it would have been nice to have an owl to send mail with or receive mail from.

Twenty minutes later, we left Eeylops Owl Emporium, which had been dark and full of rustling and flickering, jewel-bright eyes. Harry now carried a large cage that held a beautiful snowy owl, fast asleep with her head under her wing.

"What do you think I should call her?" he wondered out loud.

"I guess snowy is out of the question?" I smirked, Blaise whacked me as we followed Hooch into a shop which was narrow and shabby. Peeling gold letters over the door read Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window. A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as we stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a single, spindly chair that Hooch sat on to wait.

For some reason, the back of my neck prickled as I looked up at the thousands of narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling. Blaise stood silently to my left close to the door as if something was going to jump off the shelf and bite him whilst Harry ran his fingers scrod an old box leaving dust trails along its surface. The very dust and silence in here seemed to tingle with some secret magic never mind the fact we were surrounded by magic wands.

"Good afternoon," said a soft voice. Harry jumped even more than I did. An old man was standing before us, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop.

"Hello," said Harry awkwardly, Blaise, Hooch and I choosing to remain quiet in this situation.

"Ah yes," said the man. "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Harry Potter." It wasn't a question. "You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work."

Mr. Ollivander moved closer to Harry — I can't believe he remembered his mother's wand. Those silvery eyes were a bit creepy, Harry was probably really weirded out right now because I certainly was.

"Your father, on the other hand, favoured a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favoured it — it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course." he said, Ollivander had come so close to Harry that they were almost nose to nose, "And that's where…" Ollivander touched the lightning scar on Harry's forehead with a long, white finger. Okay that's very odd. My eyes shot to Blaise whose forehead was crinkled in a frown. He narrowed his eyes ever so slightly and waited for the remaining bits to unfold.

"I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it," Ollivander said softly. "Thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands… well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do…" He shook his head. I doubted that Voldemort was a ranging psychopath before he was eleven right, Ollivander couldn't have possibly known what was going to do. Harry's eyes nervously swept the room looking for an escape but luckily it seemed that Ollivander was going to continue.

"Hmmm," said Ollivander, scratching his chin with one long finger. "Well, now — Mr. Potter. Let me see." He pulled a long tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?"

"Er — well, I'm right-handed," Harry shrugged

"Hold out your arm. That's it." He measured Harry from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and round his head. What on earth is he measuring? As he measured, he said, "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr. Potter. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand."

Harry's eyes widened as he suddenly realised that the tape measure, which was measuring between his nostrils, was doing this on its own. Ollivander was flitting around the shelves, taking down boxes.

"That will do," he said, and the tape measure crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Right then, Mr. Potter. Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. just take it and give it a wave."

Harry took the wand and bashfully waved it around a bit, but Ollivander snatched it out of his hand almost at once.

"Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy. Try —" Harry tried — but he had hardly raised the wand when it, too, was snatched back by Ollivander.

"No, no — here, ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches, springy. Go on, go on, try it out."

Harry tried. And tried. Wand after wand. He had no idea what Ollivander was waiting for and clearly neither did Blaise or I. The pile of tried wands was mounting higher and higher on the desk, but the more wands Ollivander pulled from the shelves, the happier he seemed to become. By now Harry looked completely and utterly exhausted and dejected.

"Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere — I wonder, now — yes, why not — unusual combination — holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."

Harry took the wand, raised the wand above his head, bringing it swishing down through the dusty air and a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework, throwing dancing spots of light on to the walls.

I think Harry has his wand.

Ollivander cried, "Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well… how curious… how very curious…" He put Harry's wand back into its box and wrapped it in brown paper, still muttering, "Curious… curious…"

"Sorry," said Harry, "but what's curious?" I wrinkled my nose, that felt like a '_shouldn't have asked_' question to me. Ollivander fixed Harry with his pale stare.

"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather — just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother — why, its brother gave you that scar."

Harry visibly swallowed and Blaise's head snapped round from the shelf as I stared non-believingly at Ollivander. Harry and Voldemort have brother wands. What the fuck?

"Yes, thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember… I think we must expect great things from you, Mr. Potter… After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things — terrible, yes, but great."

Great things? I don't think the things Voldemort did can be considered great or even moderately okay. Harry shivered. Blaise snorted lightly but Ollivander didn't seem to notice, I did though. I met Blaise's eye who was frowning.

"What the fuck—" I mouthed, he shrugged and nodded his head ever so slightly, discretely. I turned my head to see Ollivander staring at me.

"Miss Black" I gritted my teeth as he spoke, "I remember your father's wand was a particularly long one, fifteen inches, unicorn hair and ivy, kind of bent" he said, clicking his fingers so that the fallen measuring tape jumped to life and began to repeat the process it did for Harry. As this happened, Ollivander began pulling boxes out from the shelves and then pushing them back on.

"Ah-ha, let's try this one" he said, sliding a deep green box off the shelf, "Beech and phoenix feather, fourteen inches" he handed me the wand, as soon as I took it felt wrong but Ollivander urged me to give it a wave so I did and successfully de-shelved about fifty boxes from their places. He whipped it away from me muttering to himself.

"Ivy and unicorn tail, thirteen and three quarter inches" he smiled as I took the wand from him, it felt better but not right as I waved it and almost smashed the window. Ollivander took that from me too and hunted the shelves for the next try.

"Ivy and Dragon Heartstring, thirteen and a quarter inches, try this" he said pulling a wand from a blue box. Again this wand felt right, I reckoned it would work for me but there was still something wrong. Ollivander watched as the wand produced a line of purple smoke as I waved it through the air but he didn't snatch it away he just stayed still, eyeing me as if confused.

"Is this it?" I asked.

"I'm not sure" he confessed, "Does it feel right?" Ollivander asked, I shook my head and then flicked my fringe out of my eyes.

"Well no not completely — I think I could use it but it's not quite right" I responded, my ears were ringing and I tilted my head to the side a little. That's weird. My eyes darted down the shelves behind him and Ollivander eyed me with curiosity.

"Please..." he stepped to the side and beckoned for me to enter the shelves, hesitating I wondered why he was doing this. Blaise gave me a little nudge and I moved forward, as I did the ringing in my ears got a little louder. I focused on the ringing and followed it as it got higher in pitch. I went deeper into the store and I swear it got dark and the shelves got closer together until I stopped looking up to the left. There near the top, sticking out was a deep blue box with what looked like centuries of dust on it. Ollivander loitered behind me and slowly he slid the ladder across for me.

"What if —" I began.

"You won't be wrong" he said firmly, his eyes a little crazier than before so I climbed up the ladder and ran my fingers across the box in question.

Three Hundred A.D. was written on it in silver lettering.

Holy Shit. That's an old wand. Next to it was a space with a small amount of dust in it. That one must have been taken fairly recently.

"Made from an infusion of Silver Maple and Ivy, Dragon Heartstring, thirteen and three quarter inches in length" Ollivander said as I pulled said box from the shelf, "Last time I sold something with Silver Maple must have been - hmmm - say, twenty years ago and before that well I haven't sold one" he said, "But since I check the records recently - the last one before that was sold in 1832"

I'm not stupid - wands often run in families so there is a strong possibility that the last wand he sold was my mothers.

"The last one that you sold..." I trailed off.

"The last one I sold was in 1971" he responded as I reached the bottom of the ladder opening the box. I was hit by a wall of magic and I breathed in deeply as I fingered the velvet the dark silvery wand was lying on. I said nothing more as Ollivander took the box and a held the wand out in front of me. I waved it in front of me and a stream of purple and silver sparks shot from the end instantly brightening the gloomy space between the shelves. My ears instantly stopped the ringing that had been almost overbearing before. Yes! I have my own wand.

"Oh bravo! I very rarely get to sell something so rare!" Ollivander clapped his hands together in delight, whisking the wand away and back into the box. I felt oddly lost without it and I scowled as I followed him back out into the main store where he wrapped the box in brown paper and placed it next to Harry's. Speaking of Harry, I stood next to him as Ollivander set to work measuring up Blaise.

"So you didn't get a wand that is brother to crazy man's then?" Harry whispered.

"No not quite, it's just under one thousand seven hundred years old though and it kind of called to me" I muttered.

"It called to you?"

"Yeah I heard ringing and it got louder and you heard him" I paused, "it's the wand that chooses the wizard" I said in an ominous voice, Harry bit back a laugh and I grinned at him.

"Mr Zabini" Ollivander picked a box from behind the desk, "Apple wood, unicorn tail hair, eleven and three quarter inches" he said, handing Blaise the wand. He immediately waved it through the air and a shower of bright green and gold sparks fell to the floor.

"You had to do it first time didn't you" I sighed with a roll of my eyes as Blaise twirled the wand in his fingers before passing it back to Ollivander to wrap up in its box.

"Of course Miss Black, would I do it any other way?" he retorted, forgetting he was in public for a moment. Harry laughed as I snorted and Blaise just smiled a little before falling quiet.

"Of course you wouldn't - arrogance is a rather annoying quality of yours" I grinned, he only returned the grin and paid seven gold Galleons for his wand. Harry and I fished out seven galleons each and we paid too collecting our wands before Ollivander bowed us from his shop.

I was well aware that the day was almost over now as we headed back towards the leaky cauldron in search of Hagrid for Harry. Hooch, who I'd barely noticed all day even if she had been directing us around the Alley, hadn't been as bad as I'd expected. I was half expecting her to say we'd done something wrong or report us to Ella-Louise for doing something wrong.

I looked to Harry who also looked quite depressed to be returning home, even when a man bowed at him as we reached the courtyard of the leaky cauldron. The boy was like royalty. Hagrid greeted Harry with a massive bear hug and Harry had to force a grin across his face. I smiled as Hooch spoke to Hagrid, "Right Hagrid, we must be off, see you back at the school"

"Bye Mira, bye Blaise" Harry said.

"See you on the train Harry" I smiled, waving while Blaise just nodded over to him. Hooch lead us back to the floo, both of us carrying a trunk behind us which Hooch had charmed weightless before.

"Right, Black, Zabini, this is where I leave you. Black you go first" she said, holding out a pot of powder for me take some. I scooped up a handful and pushed my trunk into the fireplace. Finally I stood next to trunk and as the powder dropped to the floor I said clearly, "Caylarium Institution"

I was snatched up in a whirlwind green flame and ash, watching as fireplace after fireplace flashed past before I stumbled into the Main Room at Caylarium, trunk following closely afterwards. Unfortunately Jake was stood, arms folded next to the door and I met his stare.

"Over by the wall Black" he said, jerking his head to the far wall, "Leave the trunk" he added. Mentally I sighed and hurried over to the wall just as Blaise swanned out from the fireplace, green flames erupting around him. I bit my lip knowing that doing something stupid now would be bad news. Jake directed Blaise to stand next to me, he was going to search our stuff as always when someone came back from shopping and stupidly I'd forgotten that. My face must have dropped because Blaise spoke.

"Please tell me you didn't..."

"Erm..." I blanched a little, Blaise dropped his head backwards.

"Couldn't you think for one second stop and think" he breathed. I ignored him, it wasn't like he was going to have to explain why he has a prank kit in the bottom of his trunk. How the fuck did I forget about this? I'd forgotten that we had to come back here and it was just my luck that Jake searched Blaise's trunk first because he'd dismiss him and I would be left alone. I stood, my hands fidgeting behind me watching as Jake finished and told Blaise to leave. He did quickly without even looking back at me — I hate it when he does that.

"Well, look at this..." Jake smirked to himself about thirty seconds later pulling out the purple box, "You didn't even try to hide it" he seemed surprised at my stupidity. He should — I'm not usually as oblivious. I just kept staring at my shoes which were coated in a thin layer of ash.

"Is this all you have?" he asked me still examining the contents of my trunk, I nodded, "Get upstairs to the main office"

I cringed inwardly, "Look I picked up the wro—" I began.

"I don't want to hear it Black, get out and see Ella-Louise now!" he spat, slamming the trunk shut, making me jump and quickly hurry up to the first floor. My hand hovered next to the office door for a split second before I firmly knocked on it.

"Come in" her voice was deadly calm, almost cheerful but I knew it wasn't, everyone knows that. I took a deep breath and pushed the door open. She didn't look up from the magazine she was reading so I closed the door behind me and stood anxiously waiting for her to speak. It must have been seven-ish minutes before she closed the magazine and stood up leaning back against the desk in front of me. I opened my mouth then close it again — she's waiting for me to speak out of turn. After another long moment she broke the silence.

"Did something go wrong Mira?" she asked, bending down to my level.

"No" I replied quietly lowering my gaze.

"Look at me Mira, no what?"

I raised my head slightly and stared at the spot in between her eyes, "No Miss"

"Good so why are you up here?"

"Because I brought something I shouldn't, I for—"

"I'm not interested in your excuses Mira, I'm more interested in an apology and how we're going to deal with it"

I shuffled on the spot, wondering what punishment I would have to do. This was more of a minor offence compared to what had happened with Joanna and I imagine Callum probably had to do some kind of chore for the Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder incident.

"I'm sorry" I said and before I even realised I'd forgotten to add Miss her hand connected with my cheek. I winced and reached up to cup my cheek but she grabbed my wrist.

"You can apologise properly in the morning but right now the garden behind the lake needs degnoming" she said, my mouth dropped open.

"That will take all night" I gasped.

"Yes I expect it will" she smiled, letting go of my wrist, "Better get to it then" I didn't even bother asking about dinner, I knew already that I had no chance of eating tonight. Grudgingly I left the office and headed out through the main door. Callum caught up with me outside.

"Mira!" he shouted, running over to me, "How was Diagon Alley?"

"It was good, one day you'll get to go too" I smiled, turning to him. He'd get to go when he was eight — the rules specified that you would be allowed to go to Diagon Alley with supervision then. I realised he was staring at me as we walked around the lake.

"She hit you didn't she" he said, I ruffled his hair with a smile.

"I have to de-gnome the garden" I replied.

"All of it!?

"No. No just the bit behind the lake"

"That's going to take forever" he said as we reached the area behind the lake, "I'll help you" I smiled at him, there was no way he'd be able to throw the gnomes.

"Tell you what, you spot them and I'll chuck them into the next field past the wards" I said.

"I can throw them too" he scowled at me like he was a three year old but let me help him up onto the fence instead. After an hour of throwing gnomes and around and telling Callum all about Diagon Alley I sent him for dinner and told him that he wasn't allowed to come back out because he needed his sleep.

Around about ten o'clock Blaise appeared with a smuggled out Fish Finger Sandwich.

"Having fun?" he quipped, handing me the sandwich. I happily flopped to the floor and took a huge bite from my sandwich.

Fish finger sandwiches were my weakness.

**Watching Kill Cams :)**

**Ami xx**


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